“Amicum tuum et amicum patris tui ne dimiseris, et domum fratris tui ne ingrediaris in die afflictionis tuæ. Melior est vicinus juxta quam frater procul.”
“Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.”
“Do not forsake your friend or your father’s friend, and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity; better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.”
“Don’t forsake your friend and your father’s friend. Don’t go to your brother’s house in the day of your disaster: better is a neighbor who is near than a distant brother.”
“Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; And go not to thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: Better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.”
Affliction. He will be less compassionate than a tried friend. — Better, &c. This daily experience evinces. “Those who purchase land, should consider if there be plenty of water, and a neighbour.” (Pliny, [Natural History?] xviii. 5.) — The Persians honour most those who live nearest to them. (Herodotus i. 134.)
Solomon here, as often in this book, shows that the poor have in some respects the advantage of the rich; for, 1. They have a better relish of their enjoyments than the rich have. Hunger is the best sauce. Coarse fare, with a good appetite to it has a sensible pleasantness in it, which those are strangers to whose hearts are overcharged with surfeiting. Those that fare sumptuously every day nauseate even delicate food, as the Israelites did the quails; whereas those that have no more than their necessary food, though it be such as the full soul would call bitter, to them it is sweet; they eat it with pleasure, digest it, and are refreshed by it. 2. They are more thankful for their enjoyments: The hungry will bless God for bread and water, while those that are full think the greatest dainties and varieties scarcely worth giving thanks for. The virgin Mary seems to refer to this when she says (Luke 1 53), The hungry, who know how to value God's blessings, are filled with good things, but the rich, who despise them, are justly sent empty away.